Artistic license or poetic license was the right of an artist to change the details of their work to suit their own personal tastes, rather than rigidly complying with accuracy.
In 2375, after Neelix criticized Harry Kim's doll replica of Flotter, Kim told him they weren't going for an exact likeness of the character, citing artistic license. (VOY: "Once Upon a Time")
In 2376, after hearing "Alice" leave out the part from the myth of Daedalus and Icarus where Icarus died, Tom Paris called "her" on it. "Alice" referred to the omission as poetic license. (VOY: "Alice")
Later that year, when Paris informed B'Elanna Torres that the one problem with her replica television was that there were no remote controls in the 1950s, Torres explained her decision to include one as poetic license. (VOY: "Memorial")
In 2377, Tuvok noted that his wife T'Pel's ears were in fact four millimeters shorter than those of a holographic duplicate Paris created to help Tuvok deal with pon farr. Paris explained it away as him having taken artistic license. (VOY: "Body and Soul")